Carlsbad’s Citizens for a Friendly Airport presented their concerns about the proposed expansion of Palo-mar Airport, as well as their hope for a citizen vote on the proposal, to a packed meeting room at South Vista Community’s November 8 community meeting.
We in South Vista share their concerns, as many residents are impacted by the loud, low-flying planes headed for the airport.
The group has scheduled a meeting with Carlsbad City Council and San Diego County representatives. In the meantime, this is the calendar for the McClellan-Palomar Airport Master Plan, which includes the ex-pansion:
* December 2017—Draft Environmental Impact Report to be released by the County. There will be a 45-day public comment period for those concerned to review the report and comment regarding concerns and issues not addressed. When released, the draft EIR will be posted on the County website — http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/dpw/airports/palomar/masterplan.html. There will be instructions for submitting responses. Citizens for a Friendly Air-port ask that you cc your comments to the Carlsbad City Council as well as to your own city council if you don’t reside in Carlsbad.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR
South Vista Communities’ January community meeting will feature the Citizens for a Friendly Airport group from Carlsbad for a follow-up report on their efforts — Thursday, January 25, 6 p.m. at the Shad-owridge Golf Club, 1980 Gateway Drive.
South Vista’s City Council representatives, Amanda Rigby and John Franklin, will also attend and speak to this issue. The public is invited.

IMPORTANT: Planning and Traﬃc

Commission meetngs this week

Vista’s Planning Commission will meet on Tuesday, December 5, at 5:30 p.m. in City Council chambers to consider a proposal for a self-storage facility on the west side of So. Melrose between the (former Ralph’s) shopping center and Sunset Drive.

The Traffic Commission will meet on Wednesday, December 6, at 6 p.m. in City Council chambers to consider a proposal to replace the 3-way stop sign at Shadowridge / Live Oak with a roundabout.
From Traffic Engineer Sam Hasenin:
The City is proposing to replace the existing all-way stop control at the intersection of Shadowridge Drive & Live Oak Road with a roundabout. The proposal also includes reducing the number of lanes approaching the intersection from four to two. The roundabout is expected to result in the following benefits:

– The traffic on Shadowridge Drive does not have t o come to a complete stop, but will substantially slow down going through the intersection.
– No need for enforcement of rolling through the existing Stop sign.
– The reduction of the number of lanes will make it easier for pedestrians to cross.

– The pedestrian is not trying to judge if four lanes of traffic will come to a complete stop before they cross. In-stead, they will find a gap in slow moving two lanes of traffic.
– More aesthetically pleasing than the Stop signs.

Thanks to Cliff Kaiser, here are presentations about how roundabouts work: http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/158299.aspx
Module 5 (with narration) is most apt; the pro-posed roundabout would be a single-lane design. To make the narration work, you may need to click the “Slide Show” button, bottom right:

ON-LEASH / OFF-LEASH UPDATE
At its meeting on February 17, Vista’s Parks & Recreation Commission discussed on– and off-leash proposals and recent City Council decisions for Buena Creek (Duck Pond) and South Buena Creek parks.
No decisions were made except for the future meeting timetable for further discussions:

January 22: Commission meeting, City Hall February 26: Comm. meeting, maybe in park March 26: Comm. meeting, City Hall—decision April: recommendation to City Council.A proposal was put forth by Commissioner Norm Halus that the Commission consider making off-leash hours at South Buena Creek park from dawn to dusk, and Buena Creek (Duck Pond) park would be on-leash from dawn to dusk.

Recreation is bringing back its popular summer program Parents Night Out for a winter 2017/18 series. This program offers parents to take the night off by bringing the kids to the Jim Porter Recreation Center[...]